Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:17 pm on 14 December 2022.
Thank you, Laura, and education is absolutely fundamental and at the core of this. It is morally wrong in this day and age that we see obesity climbing as it is, especially in our young people. If we don’t act now—it’s not dissimilar to the climate change argument—what happens in the future? We have to, it’s our responsibility to lay the foundations of a better system for our children and young people, and education has to be at the core of that. As Jenny said earlier, the curriculum is a real opportunity to shape education and help people understand how to use food better, the benefits of food, and change their eating habits, and then perhaps those young people can go home and change the way their families think, because this is a very big issue. It’s not going to happen overnight, but you need to start nudging it.
I was very pleased through the consultation to have many local authorities contact us and contribute, and you can find those all on the website, wanting the stability that this Bill would give them, this guidance, this strategy, so they had something to work towards. And individual authorities I’ve spoken to welcome this, because they’re already trying to do things in this way. Cardiff is a great example. Monmouthshire, my own authority, and others have examples of trying to do more on local produce, but they need this framework to work towards, and that’s what isn’t in place, and that’s what we need to put in place, so that everybody knows where their place is in the food system to achieve those food goals and targets.